Toy riding horse



March 20, 1956 s. VINCENT 2,738,974

TOY RIDING HORSE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 21, 1954 11111 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Ill M I llll n.

s. VINCENT 2,738,974

TOY RIDING HORSE March 20, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 21, 1954 C\ IINVENTOR. 54222022 l/mcem Myra/m4 w o\ ATTORNEYS TOY RIDING HORSE Simon Vincent, Washington, C. Application January 21, 1954, Serial No. 405,381

7 4 Claims. (c1. 272-1 This invention relates to toys of the type formed to represent animals and also of the type adapted for riding such as by children, and particularly a toy patterned to represent a horse and operatedby holding the body between the legs of the rider similar to the conventional broom horse, and in particular a portion representing the body of a horse with legs pivotally mounted on the rear and actuated by handles to represent pacing and also actuated by reins which make the legs kick rearwardly.

The purpose of this invention is to increase interest in a toy horse of the type used between-the legs of a rider by adding life and action to a toy horse patterned after the conventional broom horse.

Various attempts have been made to operate legs and other parts of animals to increase interest in toys, however, to provide action in a toy horse it was necessary to use the hands and for this reason toys of this type or of any type in which action is imparted by the hands of a rider to moving parts of the body are mounted on a stand or wheels whereby the hands of the rider are free. Toys mounted on wheels present many difiiculties as the wheels are not adapted for traveling over comparatively rough ground and for this reason wheel toys are confined to certain areas. With this thought in mind this invention contemplates a toy horse having a horizontally disposed section with a head on one end and with legs pivotally mounted on the opposite end, and with means for actuating the legs for pacing and kicking; and also in which means is provided for supporting the toy from a belt or other element on the rider of the body.

The object of this invention is, therefore, to provide means for forming a toy horse so that it is adapted to be extended between the legs of a rider and wherein means is provided for actuating the legs of the horse for kicking and also to represent pacing.

A further object of the invention is to provide a toy horse of the broom type in which means is provided for imparting action to legs of the horse and in which the device is of a simple and economical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in view the invention embodies a horizontally disposed bar with a head extended upwardly from the forward end, with legs pivotally mounted on the trailing end, with shields representing the rear portion of the body of a horse extended forwardly from the legs, with means for attaching the body to a belt of a rider and with means for actuating the legs to represent pacing and kicking.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the improved toy horse showing the horse retained in position by a child the lower portion of which is shown in dotted lines and the upper portion broken away.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section through the horse shown in Fig. 1 illustrating the mounting and operating elements of the legs of the horse, the parts being shown nite States Patent 2,738,974 C6 Patented Mar. 20, 1956 on an enlarged scale and one of the rear legs being shown in a kicking position in broken lines.

Figure 3 is a partial cross section through the rear portion of the horse taken on line 33 of Fig. 2 with the parts shown on an enlarged scale and with parts broken away.

Figure 4 is a cross section through the forward part Fig. 2 showing the connection of a hoof to the lower end of one of the legs of the horse. c Figure 6 is a plan view of the forward portion of the horse showing the handles for operating the legs for pacing and also showing the reins for actuating the rear legs of the horse for kicking.

Figure 7 is a view illustrating a modification wherein the horse is provided with front legs and also wherein the horse is mounted on a base.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts the pacing toy horse of this invention includes a horizontally disposed beam 10 having a head 11 on the forward end, rear legs having upper portions 12 and 13 and lower portions 14 and 15, respectively, pivotally mounted by screws 16 and 17 on the sides of the beam 10, handles 18 and 19 carried by levers 20 and 21, respectively, pivotally mounted by a bolt 22 in a slot 23 in the beam 10 for operating the rear legs with a pacing action, a cord 24, representing reins, for imparting a kicking action to the rear legsand a strap 25 adapted to support the device from a belt, as

indicated by the numeral 26 of a rider, as indicated by the numeral 27.

The lower ends of the levers 20 and 21 are provided 2 with openings 28 and 29 in which the forward ends of wires 31 and 31 are secured and the opposite ends of the wires are connected to upper ends of rocker arms 32 and 33, the lower ends of which are connected by wires 34 and 35, respectively, to pins 36 on the upper ends of the lower sections 14 and 15 of the rear legs, whereby the rider is adapted to move each of the handles 18 or 1? rearwardly to actuate the lower portions 14 and 15 of the rear legs, as illustrated in Fig. 1 wherein the lower portion 14 is moved forwardly. In this action rearward movement of the handle 18, moves the opening 28 in the lower end of the lever 29 forwardly whereby the wire 30 draws the rocker arm 33 forwardly with the lower end of the rocker arm moving upwardly, moving the lower portion 14 of the rear legs forwardly. The lower sections of the legs are pivotally mounted on bolts 37 in the lower ends of the upper sections 12 and 13 of the legs, as shown in Fig. 2.

I The upper ends of the lower sections of the rear legs of the horse are provided with sections 38 having arcuate surfaces 39, the surfaces 39 being positioned to slide against corresponding surfaces 49 of blocks 41 on the upper sections of the legs, and the sections 38 being provided with projections 42 that provide stops limiting rearward movement of the lower sections of the legs. The projections 42 are held against the stops by springs 43, the upper ends of which are secured with pins 44 to the upper sections 12 and 13 of the legs and the lower ends of which are secured by pins 45 to the lower sections 14.

and 15 of the legs.

With the parts formed and assembled in this manner the lower sections 14 and 15 of the legs are retained in the positions shown in Fig. 2 by the springs 43 and upon rearward movement of one of the handles 18 or 19 the lower section of the leg to which the handle is connected is moved forwardly to the position shown in Fig. 1.

The lower sections 14 and 15 of the legs are provided with hoofs 46 and 47, respectively and the hoofs are pivotally mounted in bifurcated portions at the lower ends of the legs with pins 48. The boots are flexibly held by springs 49 that extend around the pins 48 with one of the ends 50 of the springs bearing against the lower portions of the lower sections of the legs and the ends 51 bearing against the rear surfaces of the hoofs, as shown in Fig. 2.

As illustrated in Fig. 6 the cord 24 representing the reins is trained over pulleys 52 and 53 on the sides of the head 11 and from the pulleys the reins extend through grooves 54 and 55, respectively in the beam with the opposite ends of the reins connected to the upper ends 56 and 57 of the upper sections 12 and 13 of the rear legs and, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the force applied to the reins on one side of the horse draws the upper end of the leg forwardly about the pivot screw 16 or 17 whereby the lower portion of the leg extends rearwardly as indicated by the broken lines. Upon release of the reins the leg is returned to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 by springs 58 and 59, the forward ends of which are attached to eyes 60 on the lower surface of the beam 10 and the opposite ends of which are attached to the legs at the point 61.

The upper portions of the rear legs are covered with shields 62 and 63 and the shields 62 and 63 are nested over a shield 64 representing the rear portion of the body, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. The shields 62 and 63 are provided with spacing blocks 65 that are positioned between the shields and upper sections 12 and 13 of the rear legs, the blocks being secured to the sections of the legs with screws as shown.

The forward part of the body of the horse is provided with a panel 66 which is secured to and extends downwardly from the lower surface of the beam 10, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The forward surfaces of the upper sections 12 and 13 of the rear legs are positioned to engage a block 67, providing a stop and, also as shown in Fig. 2, the springs 58 and 59 hold the upper sections of the rear legs against the end of the block.

A spacing block 68 is also provided between the shield 64 and the beam 10 for retaining the shield in spaced relation with the upper surface of the beam.

The upper surface of the beam 10 is also provided with a block 69 having an arcuate surface 70 and the strap 25, the upper end of which is provided with a loop 71 is secured to an eye 72 on the horn or upper end of the block.

In the design illustrated in Fig. 7 a toy horse, similar to that shown in Fig. l and including a beam 75 with a head 76 on one end and rear legs 77 on the opposite end is supported above a base 78 with struts 79 and 80 whereby a child may be seated on the beam 75 and may actuate the rear legs with handles 81, similar to the handles 18 and 19 or with the reins 82 similar to the reins 24. In this design the operating parts are similar to the parts shown in Figs. 1 and 2 except that the strap for attaching the body of the horse to the belt of a rider is omitted.

With the parts as illustrated and described a child having the beam 10 of a horse extended between his legs may readily actuate the lower sections of the rear legs of the horse with the handles 18 and 19 to obtain a pacing action and the rear legs may be kicked rearwardly as indicated by the broken lines in Fig. 2 by pulling on the reins 24.

The toy horse of this invention may be provided in different sizes and a midget size may be supplied for infants and midgets.

It will be understood that modifications, within the scope of the appended claims, may be made in the design and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A toy horse comprising a substantially hollow rear portion with a horizontally disposed beam extended forwardly therefrom providing a body, a head extended upwardly from the forward end of the beam, legs having pivotally mounted lower sections pivotally mounted in the rear portion of the body, means mounted on the forward end of the beam for actuating the lower sections of the legs, and means for kicking the legs rearwardly from the forward end of the beam.

2. In a toy horse, the combination which comprises a substantially horizontally disposed beam having a horses head on one end and a cantle of a saddle on the intermediate portion, upper sections of rear legs pivotally mounted on the rear end of the beam, lower sections of the rear legs pivotally mounted in the lower ends of the upper sections, handles pivotally mounted by levers in the beam, means operatively connecting the levers to the lower sections of the rear legs for pivoting the lower sections forwardly, means for actuating the legs from the head whereby the legs kick rearwardly, and a strap secured to the cantle of the saddle for supporting the horse from a belt on a rider of the horse.

3. In a toy horse, the combination which comprises a substantially horizontally disposed beam having a horses head on one end and a cantle of a saddle on the intermediate portion, upper sections of rear legs pivotally mounted on the rear end of the beam, lower sections of the rear legs pivotally mounted in the lower ends of the upper sections, handles pivotally mounted by levers in the beam, means operatively connecting the levers to the lower sections of the rear legs for pivoting the lower sections forwardly, means for actuating the legs from the head whereby the legs kick rearwardly, stops on the lower end of the upper leg sections limiting rearward movement of the lower sections of the rear legs, springs urging said lower sections against said stops, stops on the beam for limiting forward movement of the rear legs, and springs connecting the upper sections of the rear legs to the beam for urging the upper sections against said stops.

4. A toy horse comprising a body having a substantially hollow rear portion with a beam having a head on the extended end extended forwardly from said rear portion, legs pivotally mounted only on the rear portion of the body, and hand levers pivotally mounted on the forward portion of the beam and operatively connected to the legs for manually actuating the legs in traveling and kicking positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 608,835 Card Aug. 9, 1898 FOREIGN PATENTS 525,758 France Sept. 27, 1921 

